Firearms Finishes

Picking out a new gun is a complicated chore. You have caliber, style, size, features, etc. I’ve talked about these subjects before. However, I’ve never really talked about an important aspect of the selection process… The finish. It’s actually an important factor in the gun’s functionality. There are a number of finish options to choose from. Each one has it’s advantages and disadvantages beyond appearance. Stainless, Blued, Nickel, Parkerized, Chrome, Coated… There are more options coming out every time you turn around. Really the question lays with you and how, when and where you are going to be using the firearm. Also, your hygiene. How and how often clean the weapon… Not personal. If you are a slob and really don’t want care about the gun all that much, then blued is not the finish for you and you might want a Stainless or Coated gun. Lets not make any choices just yet. Instead, let’s look at each finish and see what they have to offer.

Blued: This is probably the oldest finish to be found on a gun. Some even say it’s the most attractive finish. What this finish really is, is a carefully controlled oxidation of the surface of the metal. Salts and other chemicals are used to “blue” the gun. Mostly the results are a blackened finish and not actually the color blue by any means… There are two ways of doing this, hot and cold. Professional grade bluing uses the hot methods as it’s a more effective method and cold Bluing is something you can actually do a home to touch up a warn blued finish. The biggest downside to blued is that it offers very little in terms of corrosion protection. The blued finishes that are highly polished are better for that as there is less surface imperfection for moisture to adhere to and take root. This is why you must always wipe a blued gun down with an oil to displace moisture and O2 and provide a barrier against the same. I’ve seen neglected blued guns rust completely on a humid Virginian summer night. It also offers little abrasion protection. Old duty guns with blued finishes often look like hell. With scratches and areas where the finish is worn down to the bare metal.. But then again there is a certain nobility in the worn looking gun that I cannot explain. If the gun is free of corrosion and operates smoothly… The wear can be a sign that the owner has been there and done that with this dependable sidearm. You can always tell the new GI’s from a distance… The are the ones wearing the BDU’s that look like they just came out of the packet. Same thing with a blued gun, really. This is why a blued gun can still be considered in good condition with only 60% of it’s finish left. But that’s another article for another day.

Stainless isn’t really a finish… It’s the material. Stainless Steel. Similar to what you might have in your knife drawer in your kitchen. To understand Stainless, you need to understand Steel. I’m going to over simplify this, so if your a closet metallurgist , please don’t be offended. Steel is a mixture of iron and carbon. The carbon hardens the iron and makes it stronger. There are other elements in there but like I said, I’m wanting simplicity here. The Vikings may have first discovered steel. They had swords that were often called snake blades because of the waves of the lines in the blades… These came about when they hammered the iron blade over coals during the swords forging. This introduced carbon into the metal, transforming some of the iron into steel. Well, today’s steels are a lot more complicated. Stainless is actually an alloy of steel that is given a higher concentration of chromium. Stainless steel is good looking and will easily stay that way longer than blued. Couple downsides to stainless. One is that it’s boring… it’s vanilla. The other is galling but this is minimal thanks to newer more advanced alloys. I prefer to run a grease for lube in a stainless gun… Better protection from galling. The big advantage for stainless would be that corrosion has a much harder time getting into it. It is an almost perfect option for concealed carry guns. Scratches happen but can buffed out. Stainless guns can look virtually new much longer than most other guns. If you pick stainless, you also have the choices of “mat”, “brushed”, “bead blasted”, or “polished”. Now days you can also get your Stainless “Blackened” so dodge that vanilla bullet. The blackening of stainless is just like bluing regular steel… a chemical process that creates a controlled oxidation of the surface. Personal taste here, but you cant just polish a scratch out of a bead blasted or blackened surface. No thanks. In stainless, my personal preferences are for the brushed or polished finished.

Nickel plating has been around for a long time… An early version of chrome plating. There were many guns back in the wild west days sporting a nickel finish. They looked great, lasted a long time and all… But when they went, they really went. The nickel could come off in flakes and leave a gun with a bad case of mange. This finish has come a very long way since the 1800’s. Improvements have been made in the process and in the chemicals used. This isn’t you grampappy’s nickel plate. Nickel give you great protection from corrosion. Since it’s also a very hard surface, it’s a lot harder to abrade the surface… This means fewer scratches. The nickel finish is very pimp… Very shiny, like chrome mostly. However there is now a “mat nickel” out that minimizes the pimp-shine. This plating finish is also to be had in chrome, or gold, or even titanium… even gold titanium. Whatever you want really.

Powder Coat finishes are simple but very effective. It covers the metal in a thin layer of plastic. The finish is better than it sounds, and is more durable than you might imagine. The process for powder coating is a bit more complicated than you might think too. The process starts with a couple chemical baths to clean and prep the metal. Then it uses an electrical charge to attract sprayed particles to the metal to insure a uniform distribution of the finish. Then heat is used to cure this coating and bond it. This heat is usually done via a very large toaster oven. Again, I have over simplified, but this is the basic process. Different outfits will do things differently, but this is the basic nutshell program. The result is a very tough surface treatment that resists corrosion and abrasion. It even looks pretty good. You have probably seen these kinds of finishes before and didn’t even know it. One of my last handguns had this finish, and a very popular SMG uses it as well.

There are other Spray and Bake finishes that are more sophisticated… they don’t use a plastic, but instead use other synthetics such as Nylon or Teflon or uses PTFE particles. These finishes have differing degrees of self lubrication. One popular finish of this type is NP3. It sports a high level of lubricating particles in the finish that make the surface slick. Such finishes are good, but don’t be fooled by the slickness, it still needs to be lubricated like any other gun. Maybe not as much, but they should still be lubricated. NP3 and Black-T are a good examples of this type of finish. The factory says no lube is needed. I say it does. To answer this question I consulted an expert in the field of lubrication, someone known to many experienced shooters at least by reputation, George C. Fennell. I said to him in an email that it was my theory that while these finishes are slick, lubrication is still needed do to heat and pressure during firing… and I asked him if my theory was correct. Here is his answer:

“With PTFE dry film coatings, you are absolutely right. They do need an extra level of protection, even though they’ve come a long way since the old “frying pan” days, when all you needed to do was scratch a Teflon coated surface and the peeling was then a guaranteed and catastrophic event. Today’s coatings such as Dura Coat, Black T, and others, amalgamate the PTFE into the base substrate, making it MUCH more resilient and long lasting, but the oxidation and corrosion properties of the elements will still penetrate the porosity of the coating without an added protection like FP-10 and others. Even Walter Birdsong, the inventor of the Black-T coating, preaches the use of the FP-10 on all his weapons and touts it as the best “brush-less” cleaner available today.”

George C Fennell of course sells FP-10, but his expertise in the field of Lubrication is not diminished. I’m testing a number of lubes, FP-10 included… but more on that at another time. Back to the finishes. NP3 has a unique color that is very attractive. These finishes can also look very good. This is one advantage these finishes have… you can get them in any color you want. You can even get them in patterns. They don’t just look great, but offer excellent protection from corrosion and abrasion. These high-tech finishes are becoming the wave of the future. They are certainly a huge improvement over the finishes of the past… like Parkerized.

Parkerized finishes have been around since I don’t know when, near the turn of the century? 1900’s? Parkerizing is often seen on US GI WWII guns and many guns since then. It’s a tough finish that is resistant to abrasion, but unfortunately not that resistant to corrosion. A Parkerized surface is porous, like wood. The problem with that is moisture can sink it’s teeth into your gun and rusting will ensue. This is why “Park” isn’t my personal favorite finish, but that’s just me. The color of a Parkerized finish varies from black to green to grey all depending on the agents used in the process. The only real advantage to a parked finish is that it’s cheap and fast and does offer more corrosion protection than blued, but only if you keep a nice layer of oil over it.

There are other finishes out there… the proprietary ones. SIG has it’s own. Glock has it’s famous “Tennifer” finish. HK has it’s “Hostile” finish. Every maker has it’s own. Generally they are all very good, with pros and cons… Glock’s is probably one of the toughest, but you can only get it in black. Tennifer finish is actually not a finish at all, but a metallurgical process performed on the metal parts of the Glock pistols and knives. The metal is heat treated with a cyanide mixture bath to increase hardness and corrosion resistance. This is not a finish but is actually impregnated into the first few microns of the metal. The Tennifer treatment is colorless. Glock simply powder coats the slides black after the Tennifer process is complete. You can take a piece of sandpaper to your slide and remove all of the powder coat, leaving your slide a dull stainless color (which looks pretty cool) and the Tennifer properties will be left intact.

Duracoat: A company called Lauer Custom Weaponry makes Duracoat. Earlier it was mentioned by George Fennell as a “Spray and Bake” type finish… but this is incorrect. However it is a spray on application, much like simple paint. However, unlike paint, Duracoat is actually a two part epoxy. You have the base product, colored as you like it, and into that, you must mix a proper amount of hardener. Just like the epoxy that it is. There are a couple advantages to Duracoat that I like. One, is that you don’t have to use an electric current to get particals to stick to the metal. The other is that you don’t have to use heat to cure it. No baking required. It will cure in open air. The result is very tough finish that sticks to your weapon with absolute tenacity. Unlike some spray and bake finishes, a scratch will not result in flaking or peeling. Plastics and Metals can all be Duracoated, with consistent results. Some artistic talent will also yield camo or other patterns, really whatever you like. This gives Duracoat amazing flexibility as well as durability. Those two reasons right there are why Crusader Weaponry uses Duracoat. The customer can request a color and it isn’t a problem. The secret to Duracoat is all in the prep-work. Look for a certified Duracoat Refinisher, otherwise you might just end up with some less than professional results.

Krylon. One of the most common firearm finishes, isn’t really a finish. Krylon. The stuff you buy at the hardware store in the Rattle Cans. Spray Paint. I’ve used Krylon on more than a few weapons and I like it. However Krylon has limitations. It can scratch off easily, it can peel, and when heated it can change colors. This isn’t too bad, as all you have to do is to shake the can again and respray. The advantage that it has is that it’s cheap and mostly removeable. One can camo up a gun for one season, then apply different colors or remove the paint and repaint in total for whatever you want for the next season. So your hunting camo can always be in season.

You can ask me what finish is best for your gun, but I’ll just ask you what your going to do with it.